Lol, No, that wasn't any of the Ultra-Thin clones. It was the preferment for the Lehmann dough. It weighed 205 grams and the pizza was 8 1/2".

In my opinion this was the best pizza I have made to this date. It was crunchy on the bottom and light and airy. I think you deserve a gold star for helping me with the dough.

I never thought this dough could taste so different. Even when I tried to bake the same dough at market at higher temperatures, the pizza never came out this way. My bottom would also get burnt before the top was finished baking.

Norma congrats. The pizza looks good. Even with my MBE not working right I've notice a better oven spring than the home oven. Your pie looks like it has great oven spring. That's from having sufficient top heat? So this one was bake for around 6min? Did you have to rotate the pie at all?

Also I'm not quite sure I understand the new mods you made and how it help.

Norma congrats. The pizza looks good. Even with my MBE not working right I've notice a better oven spring than the home oven. Your pie looks like it has great oven spring. That's from having sufficient top heat? So this one was bake for around 6min? Did you have to rotate the pie at all?

Also I'm not quite sure I understand the new mods you made and how it help.

Sounds like it's time to take the grill to the market.

Tranman,

Thanks for the congrats. This pie had a better oven spring than the others. I am not sure about the top heat or shutting off the grill, so the bottom heat wouldn’t go higher. I should have kept the lid closed more, but I wanted to see if the bottom was burning. The pie only took about 4 minutes to finish in the BBQ grill oven set-up. The pie was rotated different times. I didn’t comment on this before, but I finished this pie in the broiler, in about another minute. If you look at the one dark spot, the rim caught on fire, because I touched the rim with the broiler in my house oven. Boy did I blow that out quick. I thought I didn’t want to ruin this pie since it had done so well in the BBQ grill oven set-up. I also wanted to be able to taste this pie.

I am only starting to experiment with the BBQ oven set-up and don’t understand if these modifications helped or if the turning the grill off was what made this pie better. You know how it is to understand all these variables. Too many possibilities.

As for taking this grill to market, that is too funny. Ever year at market they have an event near fall, that is only outside on a Saturday, where they have many great crafts and only let so many talented crafters in for the show. They also have many food vendors. They asked me last year if I would make pizza there. Years ago, when we had a concession trailer we had our caramel popcorn there. I knew I couldn’t take my oven outside for this event, because it was too heavy. I thought about it for awhile and since I am getting old and remember all the time it took to get ready for something like that, I thought I would give it one shot. Well, I had two people working outside and took the heavy warmer, humidified unit outside and all the other stuff that would be needed. Had to set-up on the macadam parking lot at around 6:00 a.m and it was a long day. I really don’t know if people didn’t think we were making the pies fresh, (because I was making them inside the market and someone was taking the pies outside to sell), but it wasn’t worth all the trouble in terms of money or time. The food vendors right next to me, were making a killing. The market asked me to come again this year and I said no Another standholder just asked me to make pizza at a charity event, which he said will have over 10,000 people there. I think this stuff is still in my blood for some reason (we used to sell caramel popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy and fresh lemonades at fairs and festivals in the concession trailer besides the markets), but I quickly squashed the temptation to even think about trying something like this. If I was younger, I probably would have attempted it. It would have been easier with a BBQ grill oven set-up.

Norma, it sounds like you baked the pie with the burners off correct? You were baking on residual heat from the stones. If you are happy doing the grill/oven broil technique then I would keep doing so for awhile until your desire to experiment overcomes your level of satisfaction.

But to complete the grill bake using 1 oven and do it in style as Tampa, flyboy4ual, jgame, 2stone and others you should look into mounting a rotisserie in the rear. For the $40 or so, it is a worthwhile endeavor and investment to me. Especially since you've already hand cut the firebricks. In working with the Primo, home oven, and now the MBE my single biggest obstacle is to get a higher heat to the top of the pie. That is extremely difficult to use 1 heat source and redirect the heat in such a way as to achieve an even bake. With the addition of a rotisserie or a side heat source, that challenge can be mitigated. Tampa and others have really done a fantastic job of figuring that out.

As for taking your oven to the Market, at least you tried. I've always had respect for ppl who try the seemingly impossible. It's ok to say I've tried it and failed, but at least I stepped up to the challenge.

It's an Earth food. They are called Swedish meatballs. It's a strange thing, but every sentient race has its own version of these Swedish meatballs! I suspect it's one of those great universal mysteries which will either never be explained, or which would drive you mad if you ever learned the truth.

Norma, it sounds like you baked the pie with the burners off correct? You were baking on residual heat from the stones. If you are happy doing the grill/oven broil technique then I would keep doing so for awhile until your desire to experiment overcomes your level of satisfaction.

But to complete the grill bake using 1 oven and do it in style as Tampa, flyboy4ual, jgame, 2stone and others you should look into mounting a rotisserie in the rear. For the $40 or so, it is a worthwhile endeavor and investment to me. Especially since you've already hand cut the firebricks. In working with the Primo, home oven, and now the MBE my single biggest obstacle is to get a higher heat to the top of the pie. That is extremely difficult to use 1 heat source and redirect the heat in such a way as to achieve an even bake. With the addition of a rotisserie or a side heat source, that challenge can be mitigated. Tampa and others have really done a fantastic job of figuring that out.

As for taking your oven to the Market, at least you tried. I've always had respect for ppl who try the seemingly impossible. It's ok to say I've tried it and failed, but at least I stepped up to the challenge.

Tranman,

Yes, I did bake the pie with the heat off. I knew the firebricks can hold the heat for awhile, after testing them. I probably will try this method again, to see if I can get the same results. I usually stay on one course, until I think there could be a better way, or if something doesn’t work.

I agree Tampa, fly4ual, jgame, 2stone and others have made speculator pies with mounting a rotisserie in the rear. I think their ideas are great. I might have to try that out at some point. I am different in many ways. I first always try to use what I have at home. Then if that doesn’t work out, I will pursue possibly, purchasing used or new items for experiments.

I wish you the best of luck with your MBE. I have watched all that you have gone though. I don’t think I would have been able to go though all those experiments, without getting frustrated. I admire your determination in all you try.

If I were younger, I would pursue making pizza at different events. They are usually in hot weather, outside and you can never predict how the weather might be. To get ready for all of that, takes a lot of time and commitment. I have already been though all of that. Steve (Ev) and I just talked to a woman at market the other week and she goes to events selling her pizzas on a BBQ grill. She was interesting to talk to.

Well...A change from making pizza on the BBQ grill set-up tonight. NY strip steaks..boy of boy were they yummy..a nice change..by the “Light of the Silvery Moon”..steaks on the BBQ grill grates. At least the firebricks are easy to remove. Possibly in the next week I am going to try another set-up with the firebricks to see what happens.

I tried another pizza this evening in the BBQ grill with firebricks. I decided to go about letting the firebricks heat up differently. I also set-up the BBQ grill differently with the firebricks, side bricks, back bricks and no bottom bricks. I then could just let the top firebricks heat up first, before I would then place the bottom firebricks in, when the temperature of the top firebricks got hot enough. I only decided to let the top firebricks go so high for this test. The top firebricks were 536 degrees F and the steel pan under the firebricks temperature was 560 degrees F. Then I placed the bottom firebricks in with long tongs. I went inside to get thing ready to prepare the pizza. I thought I should give the firebricks on the bottom one more quick check with the IR thermometer, before opening the dough. Well the BBQ grill ran out of propane. At least I checked it before opening the dough. I had to then move the one end of the BBQ grill with all the firebricks in. It was hard to move it with those firebricks inside. At least I had another full tank of propane. Until I fiddled around changing the tank and opening the BBQ grill to light it again, (there were problems lighting it), the top temperature of the firebricks in the steel pan had fallen to 400 degrees F. Not to be deterred, I was still going to try this set-up, even if I didn’t get decent results or they might be inconclusive. I then let BBQ grill heat-up for about another 10 minutes. What I found interesting was the top firebricks had then gone up to 446 degrees F and the bottom was only 350 degrees F. I waited about another 10 minutes, then I opened the dough ball and dressed the pizza. After I put the pizza in the BBQ oven set-up, I was gladly surprised that by watching this pizza, the rim was getting brown against the back firebricks. I measured the temperature of the back wall of firebricks and it had a higher temperature than the top and side firebricks. I saw how nice and brown the pizza got from touching those firebricks. I rotated the pie different times against the back firebricks and it really seemed to help, to get the rim browned. I was satisfied with this pie and the way it baked. Some experiments seem to work out better than expected, even with problems.

The dough ball was one I had save since the last time, when I tried to make a pizza in the BBQ oven set-up. I wanted to see if the dough ball that was frozen for two weeks, would perform well. It weighted 270 grams and the pie was 9".

The pizza was dressed with 6 in 1 sauce (which Steve gave me a small can), Foremost blend of cheeses, first three grape tomatoes I got to pick from my garden (that were then mixed with sauteed garlic in olive oil and some fresh Greek oregano, also picked from the garden) I topped the pie with some dark opal basil and regular basil, both from my garden.

Nice job Norma. So this was done completely on the grill? What was the total bake time.

Things I like about the looks of the pie. Crumb looks great. nice and airy. The spring on the rim looks good as well and coincide with the crumb. That tells me you have some decent heat coming from the top. The dark spots on the rim is promising as it gives that nice crunch.

Nice job Norma. So this was done completely on the grill? What was the total bake time.

Things I like about the looks of the pie. Crumb looks great. nice and airy. The spring on the rim looks good as well and coincide with the crumb. That tells me you have some decent heat coming from the top. The dark spots on the rim is promising as it gives that nice crunch.

Nice job Norma. Keep it up.

Jackie Tran,

I forgot to tell you before, I really like you new name. Thanks for saying it was a nice job. Yes, this pie was made completely on the grill. I only had one row of firebricks on the bottom and the pie hit the back firebricks, (I didn't try to do that, but found out that is how my pie browned so good on the rim) I had heated the top up first, then put the firebricks in the bottom, then the propane gas ran out. There was decent heat in the firebricks at the back. It measured at 650 degrees F at one point. I was too excited about seeing how the pie was browning around the edges and didn't time the pie, but I think it was baked in less than 4 mintues I want to try this experiment again, to see if I can get the same results. You know how it is, one time you get good results and the next time no good results.

Everything that goes into pizza making is a challenge, as you have seen and experimented with. I was just trying to get more top heat so the rim would brown better. I never thought about the back bricks helping to brown the rim, but I smelled something that had me thinking something was burning. When I opened the lid, I was surprised to see the back getting so brown. That led me to rotate the pie to try and get the whole rim evenly browned. It wasn’t evenly browned, but close. The last time in the set-up I had two rows of firebricks on the bottom position, so the rim wasn’t close to the back firebricks.

I love the challenge also, in trying new ideas and seeing what happens. I usually go though experiments multiple times to see what happens and to see if I can figure out why it happened.

I enjoy watching all your experiments and any other members that are doing experiments. That is how we all learn. Pizza making is all about the magical and mystery elements, that are involved in trying whenever works out.

Steve purchased some 00 flour for me and in the next experiment I might try that to see what the results would be. Maybe at some point I will get one of my starters going.

Norma this is why I had mentioned the low ceiling and the back rotisserie burner before.

With the low ceiling it does several things. It decreases the amount of air to heat over the pie and concentrates the heat. This proximity as you've discovered will help cook and even put brown spots on the cheese. More importantly it will brown the top of the cornicione.

The downside is that it's hard to load a pie into the desire position with a 2" ceiling.

I you have a rear burner you won't need to get it that close to the backwall. You'll get more predictable and consistent browning of the rim.

Good luck to you Norma.

Can you post again your % of yeast or preferment and ferment times and temps. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Thx

I can now see how a rotisserie rear burner would really help bake a pie in the BBQ grill. I am just too cheap to go out and buy something, until I have exhausted all possibilities I can, to get something to work. Even the idea you gave me for using the steel pan was excellent. It does seem to work. I wouldn’t have tried it, without your advise. My ceiling is higher than 2".

The dough I used from this formula was frozen for 2 weeks and then defrosted in the microwave. If you want to try out this formula, it will take part of one day for the poolish, 3 days cold ferment of the poolish, final mix, then 1 day cold ferment of the dough ball. I make a bigger batch for market and that is why I have left over dough balls sometimes. If you want the formula for 5 dough balls, let me know and I will give you the link. I let the dough warm-up for about 1 ˝ hrs. at room temperature, after defrosting.

I decided to try a room fermented dough today for the BBQ grill firebrick set-up. I wanted to try the flour Steve bought for me. It was Farina “00" granora. flour. I decided to also try out the cake yeast he brought me. I only used the”00" flour, cake yeast and all natural sea salt in this formula.

I mixed the dough this morning and let it sit on the kitchen table until this evening. I let the firebricks heat up the same way I did the last time. Steel pan with firebricks, heated first, load bottom firebricks later.

That dough didn’t bake well. The taste was good, and the crust was tender to eat, but no grill spring.

I decided since the grill was on to take a frozen dough out of the freezer, time defrost and let the center partly frozen to see how the pie would bake up.